The term “cook-off” as it relates to military ordnance refers to the unwanted exploding of ordnance when subjected to high temperatures caused by fire or other sources of heat. A well-known approach to mitigating cook-off effects involves opening or “venting” both ends of the ordnance to prevent the ordnance from affecting, or from being affected by, adjacent explosive components. A particularly hazardous explosive component adjacent to a warhead is the warhead's detonating fuze. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to separate a fuze from its warhead when ambient temperatures approach those capable of starting a cook-off event.
One type of well-known cook-off venting system places a meltable (plastic) adapter between an end of a warhead and a warhead's fuze. As ambient temperatures approach those temperatures associated with a cook-off event, the adapter melts thereby allowing the fuze to fall away from the warhead while simultaneously venting the warhead. Unfortunately, plastic adapters are not very strong and are subject to cracking and breaking under impact loads, e.g., the ordnance is dropped during handling.